A Black Heart
by Sedor
Summary: Ichigo lost more than just his mother at the age of nine. Now seven years later, he is no longer the smiling, naive boy he once was, but is in fact something far, far darker. AU from the very beginning of Bleach. Chapter 1 Revised 12/02/2013.
1. Chapter 1

**A Black Heart**

*Sigh* I really need to put a new door on my Vault of Stories. Maybe even employ an army to keep them in there and stop them from escaping and plaguing my mind with wondrous tales and epic promises of how cool they'll be in the end. Until then they're going to keep torturing my dreams and stifling my other works.

*Sigh* I hope you enjoy my latest madness.

Edited : 12/02/2013

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach.

"Normal speech"

'_Inner speech/thoughts'_

"_Kido/Zanpakuto Attacks/Quincy Techniques"_

"**Zanpakuto speech"**

"_**Hollow speech"**_

XXX

**Chapter 1:**

The soft murmur of steel cables running above him, echoed within the modest sized elevator as sixteen year old Ichigo Kurosaki rode it to the tenth floor, a large cardboard box filled with random belongings in his hands. Hearing the chime indicating that he'd reached his floor, he huffed and walked out the door, careful not to jostle his cargo, or to bump into the other people in front of him. Then again, considering his imposing 5'11" build, dark brown eyes and orange hair, several people already gave him a wide berth as they passed him. Not that he cared about what they did anyway.

Reaching the door to his apartment, he pushed it slightly with his shoulder and slipped into the entryway. Setting the box down next to the others, he rubbed his tired arms and stretched to, hearing several of his joints crack. Hearing a grunt from the next room, he peeked around the corner and smirked at the middle-aged man that was currently grappling with a screwdriver and the wooden frame of what was to be there couch. "Need a hand oji-san?" he asked with a hint of mirth, crossing his arms as he stared down at the haggard man.

"And let you get out of hauling up the rest of the boxes…not a chance Ichigo," the man replied as he stood and stretched his back to get rid of the kinks in it. His spiky black hair was matted with sweat, but his light blue eyes held a spark of life in them that hinted at a brash young soul within an aged body.

"Leave tou-san alone and get back down there and help Ichigo!" a stern female voice shouted, causing Ichigo to smirk again as he pushed himself off the wall he was leaning on and poke his head into the kitchen.

"Ruin all my fun why don't you Tatsuki-chan," he teased as he ran a hand through his sweat-soaked hair. "I was just taking a small breather anyway."

Glaring back at her roommate and adoptive brother of the last seven years, sixteen year old Tatsuki Arisawa grabbed a wooden spoon from the box she was unpacking and hurled it at him, growling as he caught it between his fingers and twirled it around innocently. "And if you stand around here taking a breather any longer, we won't be able to sleep tonight with all the unpacking we still have to do, NOW MOVE!" she yelled at him, pointing at the door.

"Fine, fine I'm going," he said as he held up his hands in surrender, placing the spoon down on the counter and walking out the door again. Left alone with the kitchen utensils again, she shook her head to clear her thoughts, her black spiky lochs fluttering slightly. Despite the smile and innocent attitude he portrayed though, she knew that it was just his usual mask up. Hell she was still surprised that her parents were allowing this, but then again she shouldn't be surprised. Ichigo had learnt long ago how to get what he wanted from people and her presence here, was her simply being pulled along for the ride…again. She had to wonder though, if her parents knew Ichigo like she knew him…would they have still agreed to all this? By all appearances Ichigo was completely normal, smart, sociable and athletic high school boy, but it was all a means to an end for him. Then again with a past like his, she really couldn't blame him for turning out the way he did. Thinking back on the week of 17th-24th June 1997, she shuddered as she remembered how Ichigo's life had literally gone to hell.

XXX

_June 17__th__ was forever immortalised as the day Ichigo's heart split in half as far as Tatsuki was concerned and in all fairness it really was. Hearing that Ichigo's mother was brutally murdered in front of him, she couldn't help but sympathise with him. She had met Masaki Kurosaki countless times and the one thing she could admit without any hesitancy was that the world seemed a little brighter when she smiled at you and the urge to smile back, grew a thousand fold. Therefore when Ichigo began to search relentlessly for her, in the vain hope that she would come back, she understood and left him to it. Unfortunately, life just seemed to have it in for him and less than a week later, his heart was shattered completely, leaving him almost nothing in her opinion._

_The day of Masaki's funeral, she along with her parents had attended and she had spent her time sitting with Ichigo under a sakura tree as they watched the mourners leave, while his father and younger sisters sat nearby. She didn't know what had come over her that day, but she had begged and pleaded with her parents to accompany Ichigo and his family home. Privately now, she believed that fate wanted her to have a front row seat for the next tragedy._

_As they walked home after the funeral procession was over, her parents walked behind her and Ichigo, ushering them along as Ichigo dragged his feet slowly. Ahead of them Isshin carried the twins in his arms, their faces still tearstained after the service. As they crossed a street, she heard the screeching of tyres ahead of them. Looking up, her eyes widened in fear as she watched a car careen out of control, speeding towards them. Feeling herself being yanked back, she found herself taking shelter in the arms of her mother, while her father grabbed Ichigo and held them behind a corner of a building. To her horror though, she couldn't see Isshin with them and flinched as the dull thunk of metal on flesh echoed through the air. Hearing only shocked gasps and cries from other pedestrians, she saw Ichigo break free of her father's grip and run around the corner, his anguished scream following soon after. Running after him, she soon joined him in his crying._

_The car had not simply run them over, but had slammed into them and pinned them between it and the wall, crushing their bodies effortlessly. Seeing a blood pool forming under the car, she didn't resist when a pair of arms scooped her up and turned her away from the scene. Crying into her mother's shoulder, she still remembered how unearthly Ichigo's cries had sounded as he begged and pleaded with her father to let him help, that his father and sisters might still be alive._

_In the aftermath of the accident, it turned out that the driver was a drunken teenager that had stolen his father's car and had decided to go for a joy ride in it. Even if Ichigo had harboured a grudge against him, the boy committed suicide a month after the accident, his own guilt too much to bear apparently._

XXX

Feeling a hand on her shoulder, she was jolted out of her reverie and stared back over her shoulder at a woman with shoulder length, dark brown hair and even darker eyes.

"Is everything alright Tatsuki?" her mother asked, staring at her with concern.

"It's nothing kaa-san, just thinking about what a big change this is," she replied with a wry smile, which her mother returned.

"It is and it probably would never have happened if Ichigo-kun didn't want a chance at standing on his own two feet. It seemed wrong not to have you two try together after all the support you've given one another," she said with a slight laugh, busying herself with the rest of the boxes in the room.

XXX

"We're finally done," Tatsuki groaned as she collapsed back onto her bed, her cool sheets feeling like heaven at the moment. Feeling a towel hit her face, she growled and ripped it off and bolted upright, her arm raised to throw it back. She faltered though when she found Ichigo casually leaning against her doorframe with a towel wrapped around his waist, droplets of water running down his nude form as he smirked at her.

"While the smell of sweat can be arousing at times, I don't think this is the time Tatsuki," he said as he pushed himself off the wall and headed away, baring his back to her and the pale white scars that resided there, scars she knew intimately after tending to them on the days he had received them.

Sighing as she made her way to the shower, she cursed and muttered under her breath at her reaction to him. It wasn't that she had never seen her adoptive brother shirtless, or clad in just his boxers, but no matter how much she fought to suppress her lust-driven instincts, his random appearances like that often left her frozen and mentally drooling at the image he presented. Of course it was worse for the rest of the girls at school since they didn't see him nearly as much as she did. _'Well, maybe not all of them,'_ she amended, thinking Ichigo and his _'friend'_ of the last year.

Shaking her head to rid herself of such thoughts, she entered the bathroom and shut the door behind her. Turning the shower on and adjusting the temperature, she peeled her sweat-soaked clothing off her skin, tossing it into the hamper with Ichigo's dirty laundry. Entering the shower, she let out a small hiss as the hot water sprayed against her skin, before letting out a groan as she became accustomed to it and felt it soothe her aching muscles.

Reaching for her sponge, she lathered it up with some of the lavender scented soap Ichigo had gotten for her the last time he had gone shopping and began to scrub at her skin. With her mind already back on his half naked body, she allowed herself to indulge in the fantasy for a moment, her eyelids fluttering slightly as she caressed her breasts lightly, her imagination playing it up as Ichigo's own calloused fingers. As the phantom-Ichigo's fingers drifted lower to her womanhood though, she jerked back in shock and slammed her fist against the wall of the shower, the dull thud echoing in her ears.

Taking several deep breaths, she growled and pounded her fist against the wall several more times, before sliding down it and resting with her back against it, her head clutched in her hands.

"Tatsuki you okay in there?" Ichigo asked, the volume of his voice dimmed by the sound of the shower, but the concern in it was still as clear as day to her.

"Y-Yeah," she stuttered out as she stood up and shut off the water. "I was just…thinking about how I forgot to let sensei know that I was going to skip out on practice today," she replied, mentally cursing her pathetic sounding excuse.

"O-kay…" he replied, not sounding fooled at all by her answer. "Well…it's not like he'll get mad at his star pupil for missing out on one lesson now will he?" he said with a chuckle. "Now stop trying to drown yourself and get out, we still have school in the morning after all.

Hearing his footsteps pad away, she reluctantly stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around herself. Staring at her reflection in the mirror, she took in her hazy eyes and flushed face, holding a palm to her cheek to feel the warmth of her skin. _'I can't keep thinking of him like that…I won't!'_ she shouted inwardly, slipping out of the bathroom and heading to her room.

XXX

Lying down on his bed, clad in nothing but a pair of boxers, Ichigo stared out at the moon as it shone brightly in the night sky, an uneasy feeling crawling up his spine. These feelings…these instincts, had saved his life countless times before, but now he couldn't understand why they were flaring up now of all times. _'It's not nothing, but nothing's happening that I know of and I haven't had a slip up at all these last few months, plus I'd know if someone was watching me. So what is it?'_

Grumbling to himself, he adjusted his pillow so that it was more comfortable to him and fell back onto it, closing his eyes, slowing his breathing and trying to clear his mind. He had learnt this technique to shut out the nightmares when he was younger, therefore it should be more than enough to at least help him fall asleep now.

XXX

The following morning found the pair of them heading to school as per usual, but along a completely different route than the two of them were used too. Milling along with the other early risers, Ichigo stiffened momentarily as his instincts flared again, followed by the sound of a deafening explosion. Looking up, Ichigo's eyes widened in shock at the grotesque, centipede-like creature that had ripped its way through the building ahead of them, rearing up on its hind legs and uttering a high pitched screech from its white, mask-like face.

Feeling someone knock into his shoulder, he jolted out of his frozen state and grabbed Tatsuki's arm, pulling her away from the carnage that was unfolding. Seeing people blindly running from the creature, he had to guess that they could not even see it, a fact confirmed as a young ghost fled from it, the chain on her chest tinkling softly as she ran.

Frustrated at the idea of a spirit being the cause behind all this, he ducked into a narrow alleyway, dragging Tatsuki along with him. Pressing themselves against the wall, they watched as the young ghost ran past them, her expression fearful.

"Ichigo…she's just a little girl," Tatsuki whispered, preparing to run off after her. Before she could though, she felt herself being yanked back and pinned against the wall.

"A little girl that's beyond our help Tatsuki!" he shouted at her. "What are you going to do against that monster huh? This is not our fight Tatsuki and it's not even one we can win. We need to leave ghosts to their fate." As his words struck home, she bowed her head and her shoulders slumped, before she felt Ichigo lift her chin up. "It's not wrong to put ourselves first Tatsuki-chan, now come on, we need to get out of here."

Nodding her head, she followed after him as they headed further down the alley, missing the appearance of a girl in a black kimono and her execution of the creature.

XXX

That evening, Ichigo and Tatsuki walked home from the grocery store, both clad in their respective uniforms still as they trooped home with their hands full.

"How'd your study session with Ryo go?" Tatsuki asked now that they were out of earshot of others, seeing Ichigo smirk.

"It was a productive…_practical_ session. We'll probably deal with some theory next time," he said with a grin, while she huffed and turned away from him. "Aw come on Tatsuki you asked, what did you expect me to say?" Seeing that she wasn't going to answer him, he let it drop for the moment. As they walked though, a new thought popped into his head, along with a devilish grin.

"How did your teaching session go? I'm sure a few of the newbies absolutely _loved_ the way you used your fists on some of them," he commented, sidestepping away from her as she swung the packet with bread and other fragile items at him.

"I'm the assistant sensei at our dojo, not some fetish masseuse that guys get off to," she growled at him. "God knowing you though, you'd be one of the first to line up if I was!"

Before he could utter a retort though, he felt a flare of danger, similar to their earlier incident and gasped as a fist collided with his torso, sending him flying backwards to slam into a nearby wall. Hacking up a glob of blood, he looked up as he heard Tatsuki scream.

Through dazed eyes he could make out a hulking figure standing a few feet in front of him, hunched over as it held Tatsuki in its left hand. As his vision came into focus, he could see it had the same white mask for a face that the previous creature had, but had a row of spines along its back that gave it a distinct fish-like appearance, despite the fact that it walked on its hind legs. Ignoring what it looked like, he reached behind his back, seaching for the small sheath he kept hidden under the back of his shirt and slid the ceramic knife from it. Looking at it, he cursed as the impact of his body against the wall had shattered the blade, leaving him weapon less. Looking around him, he spied a long metal pole lying nearby and grabbed it.

Seeing where his thoughts were going, Tatsuki struggled in the monster's grip and screamed, "No Ichigo, don't do it!" only to feel the monster squeeze even harder and elicit another scream from her.

"Oi, let her go!" he yelled at the monster, ducking under its fist and driving the sharpened point straight down into its foot. To Ichigo's horror though, the pole barely scratched the surface, before the monster was able to backhand him away, sending him crashing into the wall again. Feeling something warm trail down his neck, he reached around and felt for the liquid, pulling his hand back to see it dyed red with his blood. _'Just fucking great,'_ he thought, seeing a shadow fall over him as the monster now stood in front of him.

"_**Found you…" **_it hissed, raising its fist up high and sending it straight down at him. Shutting his eyes as he waited for the blow, he winced as he felt a new liquid splatter over his face. Cracking an eye open, he found himself shocked as a young girl with shoulder length black hair, dressed in a black kimono stood in front of him, a sword in her hand as she blocked the monster's fist with it.

Howling in pain as the sword cut into its flesh, the creature dropped Tatsuki's limp body to the ground, her body landing with a muffled thump.

"TATSUKI!" Ichigo yelled, struggling to get up and stumbling as his injuries flared in pain. Seeing the monster pushing the girl back, he gritted his teeth and forced himself to move, grabbing Tatsuki and rolling out of the way just as the monster's foot connected with the ground near them.

"Stop getting in the way!" the girl shouted at him. "Get as far away from here as you can and don't look back."

Suppressing the urge to snap back at her, he lifted Tatsuki up into his arms and started to make his escape. Seeing its meal disappearing and knowing what an exceptionally tasty soul it would be, the monster pressed its attack, knocking the young girl back with a kick and sending her flying past Ichigo and Tatsuki.

Seeing the girl fly past him in shock, Ichigo turned to look over his shoulder, fear taking hold of his body as the monster charged at him, jaws open wide as if to devour him. Shielding Tatsuki with his body as best he could, he waited for the blinding pain that would be those teeth sinking into his flesh. Feeling himself being shoved out the way though, he watched in horror as the girl in the kimono shoved him out of the way and sunk her blade into the monster's jaw, just as its teeth sank into her shoulder. As the creature howled in pain and retreated into what looked like a black hole, Ichigo watched the girl collapse to her knees, before resting against the nearby wall.

"Idiot, couldn't you have at least moved a little faster," she coughed out, her arms hanging limp at her side.

"Forgive me if I can't run as fast as normal with a girl in my arms and a few broken ribs to speak of," he growled back at her, hearing her chuckle softly.

"So angry in the face of your death, you might become a hollow like that," she said, coughing as her wound flared in pain.

"Hollow? What the hell is that?" he shouted at her, seeing her grimace at his words.

"That…" she said pointing at the monster as it reappeared, "…is a hollow."

"Well then how do we kill it? I can't run for the life of me and it doesn't look like you could either," he said as he set Tatsuki down next to her and crouched down in front of her.

"There is and I don't have much time to explain, but I'll need to stab you with my sword, my zanpakuto and give you my powers," she said weakly, gesturing to the blade at her side.

"Great so you're not human either," he said with a sigh, seeing the hollow was making its way over to them again. "Well quit stalling little girl, we'll figure out the rest of the details later," he said as helped her pick up her blade and held it over his heart.

"My name is Rukia Kuchiki you ingrate, not little girl," she shouted at him, preparing to thrust her blade into his heart.

"Tch, whatever. If we make it through this…maybe I'll tell you mine," he said, just as she thrust it forwards and the world was bathed in a bright white light.

As the wind howled in both Rukia and the hollow's ears, the pair of them struggled to see through the blinding light. Hearing a screech of pain, Rukia looked over to the hollow, finding it lying on its back, thrashing about as it was now missing its left arm and right leg. Looking past it, her eyes widened in shock as she found Ichigo standing at its head, his eyes ablaze with rage as he clutched a blade as long as he was tall in his hand. Seeing him raise it above his head, she watched in stunned disbelief as he drove its tip through the hollow's right shoulder, pinning the hollow to the ground.

"Not so tough when your food fights back are you!" he spat at the hollow, stomping on the hilt of his blade and sending it even deeper into the ground, causing the hollow to release a pained howl as it glared hatefully at him. "You're lucky I can't squeeze you like you squeezed the life out of Tatsuki, but I'll think of something to repay you for touching the only family I have left. In fact, I think I have just the thing."

Confused at the meaning of his words, she watched stunned as he grabbed his zanpakuto and placed the tip on its mask, before pushing it down ever so slowly.

As fragments started to break off, accompanied by the unearthly shrieks of pain from the hollow, Rukia finally found her voice. "Stop it! Just finish it off already!" she shouted at him, seeing him turn slightly to face her.

"This bastard almost cost me what little family I have left Kuchiki…and since it's up to me…I say he dies a slow painful death," he spat at her, continuing to press his blade down slowly into the hollow's mask. Before he could continue for much longer though, a dark green blur appeared behind the teen, knocking him out with a chop to his neck and purified the hollow with ease.

Standing next to the knocked out teen was a man that looked to be in his late twenties with platinum blonde hair, hidden under a white and green striped bucket hat and wearing a dark green jacket over a light green gi and hakama. Abandoning the teen on the ground, the man made his way over towards her, his wooden clogs echoing through the night air as he finally came to a stop in front of her, a grim expression on his face as his grey eyes bored into her own.

"You have no idea what you've just done…do you?!"

XXX

And a very different story has just begun as you can see. I've dropped some hints about how Ichigo is like in this universe and I plan to build on that in the next chapter, but we can already see that this is not a kind and compassionate Ichigo, hell almost all fics feature that so why not mix it up a bit?

Anyway let me know what you think please and for those that want to know the status of my other projects, I have finally updated my profile with their relevant statuses.


	2. Chapter 2

**A Black Heart**

Not a bad response if I do say so myself and certainly better than I was expecting for this spur of the moment idea. Now then the only question that needs to be answered right now is the pairing…yeah good luck guys and girls, because that's still in the murky confines of my mind and even I can't make out the end result yet. Think of it like the Protector's Temptation, I'm going to drag you along with me until we finally have something that can work. Until then, I'm just going to tease you guys along the way (Hmm, could do a Tatsuki pairing, or my first Rukia pairing. A Ryo pairing would be rare. Oh I know! How about a fem-Hollow Ichigo pairing? The insanity would be entertaining, yes? No?).

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach.

"Normal speech"

'_Inner speech/thoughts'_

"_Kido/Zanpakuto Attacks/Quincy Techniques"_

"**Zanpakuto speech"**

"_**Hollow speech"**_

XXX

**Chapter 2:**

"W-What do you mean?" Rukia stuttered out as the green robed man glared down at her.

"Just look at yourself and see what I mean," he replied, gesturing at her. Looking down at herself, she gasped as she was clad in a simple white yukata, indicating that she had, had her powers drained. "While his treatment of the hollow was distracting, that should not have distracted you enough to cover the complete loss of your powers. Now you're no more powerful than the very souls you swore to protect," he chided her, before turning his back on her and heading towards Tatsuki and Ichigo's unconscious forms, where a large, dark skinned man was tending to them.

"How are they Tessai-san?" the blonde man asked the other as he stood over them.

"They'll live boss," the man replied as he finished bandaging Ichigo's head wound. "Once we get them home, we should be able to leave it at that."

"Very well then, you would know best," the blonde replied, scratching his chin as he observed the pair. Looking over his shoulder at Rukia, he called out to the powerless girl. "You'll need a gigai if you want to recover your powers without leaving here. Come along now, it's not very often that I feel charitable after all."

XXX

The following morning, Ichigo woke with a groan as his mind flashed through the various dreams he had from last night. Nightmares of a monster of immense size, watching helplessly as it crushed Tatsuki in its grip, to finally the overwhelming sense of power he got when the girl stabbed him in his chest with her sword. Running a hand through his hair, he froze as he felt the bandage wrapped around his forehead. Jumping out of his bed, he rushed to the bathroom, staring at the white cloth in disbelief. Spying even more of it at his neckline, he tore his shirt off and stared at his chest that was wrapped up tightly with white cloth. _'It wasn't a dream!' _ he thought in disbelief as he gently probed his chest. _'But then…what happened to the girl…the monster…TATSUKI!'_ he mentally screamed, tearing out of the bathroom and crashing headfirst into said person.

"Ouch!" she shouted as she fell backwards onto her rear, rubbing her head to soothe it of the bump. "Watch where you're going Ichigo!" she groused as he held a hand out to her and pulled her up. Despite catching a glimpse of her white cotton panties, an event that would have led to him teasing her mercilessly only yesterday, his mind was drawn to the hint of white cloth peeking out of the top of her school shirt. Seeing where his gaze had been drawn to, she sighed and let her hand fall to her side. "Hard to believe that we let our guard down enough that we were ambushed huh? At least there was someone passing by that was able to scare the thugs off."

"Thugs…?" he asked in confusion, watching her brow furrow at him. _'It was a monster, a hollow if I remember correctly, not a bunch of lame ass thugs!'_

"Yeah gangbangers, thugs, bitch ass pansies as you like to call them," she said with a hint of irritation. "Don't you remember anything from last night? Or did that metal pole to your head do more than we thought?" she asked in concern, fussing with the bandage on his head.

"I…I just…I'm fine," he stuttered out, still in disbelief that she couldn't remember the same version of events as him. _'Maybe it was just a vivid dream and it really was just a bunch of guys.'_

"Well if you're okay you should get ready. The teachers aren't going to go easy on us, even if it's not our fault that we only got in late last night," she said as she headed for the kitchen, the sound of the kettle boiling echoing through the apartment. Eyes widening at her words, he poked his head back into his room to stare at his alarm clock and cursed at the fact that he had less than ten minutes to get ready.

XXX

"GAH! Ichigo-kun what happened to you?!" a young brunette girl shrieked as he and Tatsuki walked onto the school grounds thirty minutes later, drawing the attention of everyone in the school yard to the pair's arrival. As cries of "Are you alright Ichigo-kun?!" and "Do you need some help Ichigo-kun," echoed through his ears, Ichigo watched as Tatsuki smirked at him, before leaving him to be mobbed by his well-wishers. Scowling inwardly, he plastered a small smile on his face and raised his hands for silence.

"Girls, girls calm down," he said soothingly as he tried to calm the mob down. "It's just a small cut and I'm fine. There's absolutely nothing for you to be worried about," he said, a roguish grin on his face as he finished.

As if mesmerised by his smile and charisma, all the girls smiled back at him, stars in their eyes as they parted before him like the sea. "Hai Ichigo-sama!" they called out, watching with dreamy expressions as he walked past them and disappeared into the building proper.

Ambling over to his classroom, he greeted most of the other students as they called out to him, while avoiding the more spirited greetings of class idiots like Keigo Asano. Finally reaching his classroom, he ignored the soft chatter as friends caught up with one another and settled into his seat, leaning back into it with his eyes closed.

"Ohayo Kurosaki-kun!" Orihime Inoue's voice rang out, causing Ichigo to frown internally in annoyance. It wasn't that Orihime was ugly or unpleasant, in fact she was far from it as she undoubtedly the girl from almost every guy's wet dream, what with her large breasts, impressive curves and friendly demeanour, but none of this could overcome the fact that she seemed to have an unhealthy obsession with him. If she had been any other girl, he would've shown her the _real_ Ichigo and seen whether she still idolised him, but considering she was Tatsuki's best friend, it meant that he had to spare her innocence.

"Hey Inoue-chan," he greeted back with a smile, leaving her blushing and sputtering incoherently for a moment before she recovered.

"Ah my Hime sounds so cute when she stutters like that!" a girlish voice said as a pair of hands reached out from behind Orihime and began to fondle her breasts unabashed.

"A-Ah Chizuru-chan!" Orihime moaned in protest, just as a speeding heel connected with her would-be molester and sent said girl tumbling over Ichigo's desk and into the now scowling boy's lap.

"Leave her alone you damned pervert!" Tatsuki yelled as she stomped her foot down threateningly, her eyes filled with rage as she stared at the red-headed lesbian.

"You can't deny that my love enjoyed my actions!" she shouted back, struggling to right herself and causing Ichigo to cough uncomfortably at she brushed up against his crotch, while half the class sweat-dropped at her delusions.

"Settle down munchkins, settle down," their teacher Misato Ochi called as she walked into the room, her signature register book in her hands. "Arisawa stop trying to pummel Honsho and Honsho…stop straddling Kurosaki, he's starting to look uncomfortable."

Freezing at her teacher's words, Chizuru peered slowly over her shoulder and promptly paled at the glare Ichigo was directing at her. Jumping almost a foot into the air, she quickly hurried over to her seat, amidst the chuckling of the class.

"Oi I said settle down!" Misato called out, tapping her book on her desk to silence them. "Now then, we have a new student joining us today. She's all the way from Osaka so make sure you guys treat her well…understand?" she said in a low threatening tone, her eyes boring into the majority of the male population and causing them to shudder and nod. "Good, come in now please!"

His interest piqued slightly at the thought of a new girl transferring to their school, Ichigo watched with a bored expression on his face, only to have it wiped away as he stared in shock at the girl from last night, standing in front of their class, in their school uniform.

"Hello, my name is Rukia Kuchiki," she said with a bow, a smile on her face. "It's a pleasure to meet you all." While the majority of the class exchanged greetings with her, Ichigo's mind was racing as he fought to keep himself calm. Images, no memories of last night played over and over in his head as he remembered both her and the monster they fought, before his mind drew a blank as to how the fight ended.

'_It was real! There was no gang, but then what happened to the monster? Did she end up killing it and then patching us up? Why's she here now then? What does she want…or rather…who does she want?'_ he thought with a frown, missing the fact that Rukia was walking over to the unoccupied seat next to him. That is, until she stopped in front of him and held out a hand to him.

"Rukia Kuchiki, a pleasure," she said as she continued to hold her hand out to him, before turning it over slowly. Seeing that there was writing on her palm, he narrowed his eyes at what he read. _Make a scene…and I will kill you!_ Looking up at her with a smirk, he took her hand, turning it back over again and kissed the back of it, startling her and the others in class.

"Oh believe me…the pleasure's all mine," he finished with a grin.

XXX

When the bell rang for lunch, Ichigo hid his amusement at how his classmates swarmed Rukia, cutting her off as she tried to make a beeline straight for him. Hurrying away so that neither she nor the others could bother him, he headed down a secluded hallway, yawning as he walked. As he passed the door to the empty art class though, he almost yelped as he was yanked back by his collar, before being slammed back into the wall as a pair of lips claimed his own in a heated kiss. Catching a whiff of the perfume the girl wore; he smirked and let his arms drift down to her waist. Moaning into the kiss, the girl in front of him pulled back for air, panting as she recovered her breath.

"You know… if this is what I can expect to happen after I get injured, I might just get into trouble a little more often Ryo," he joked, hissing in pain as a fist collided with his bandaged chest.

"Sorry, sorry!" the now named Ryo whispered quickly, running her fingers over his chest gently, whilst he smirked back at her. Being one of the tallest girls in the grade, she was just slightly shorter than him her forehead being level with his jaw.

"Tch, you'd need to use a lot more force if you really wanted to hurt me," he said gently, running a hand through her long black hair.

"Evidently someone did," she murmured into his shoulder, her fingers slipping through the buttons of his shirt to caress his chest. "I was worried when you were late this morning and it only got worse when rumours spread through the school that you were injured."

Nodding his head as she spoke, he continued to thread his fingers through her hair as she vented at him, knowing it was what she needed at the moment. "And what's going on with you and the new girl, Rukia I think her name was? Do you know her?" she asked, causing him to chuckle again.

"She's not my type believe me. I just felt like teasing her at the time. The last I saw of her, she had to answer a veritable avalanche of questions from the rest of the class." Feeling her nod her head, he glanced at the hands of the silver wristwatch he had given to her last year for her birthday and smirked. "You know…we have 30 minutes before lunch is over. So if you want…" he tried to say, only to find himself silenced as she attacked his lips again, all the while grinning devilishly at her.

A little over twenty minutes later and Ryo tentatively poked her head out the classroom door, only to let out a high-pitched squeal and leap out into the mercifully empty hallway as Ichigo's hand slipped under her school skirt and gave her derriere a squeeze. Chuckling at her outburst, Ichigo slipped out after her, doing up the last button of his shirt and tucking it back into his pants, before leaving the track and academic star blushing at him.

XXX

The day passed in an absolutely chaotic fashion for Rukia, despite her attempts to remain unnoticed and unimportant. After the fiasco that was her _greeting_, she found herself the centre of attention thanks to Ichigo. If she was completely honest with herself though, it was as if Ichigo's class mates were sheep and the boy himself was the shepherd, but it would be far more accurate to say they were the puppets with him as the puppet master.

Regardless of his role in the school, she blamed him for her predicament of hiding away in the branches of a large tree, observing the orange-haired enigma as he and his teammates warmed-down after practice.

While his past was a an unspoken subject, a topic that had earned her several glares whenever she asked, she had been surprised to find out that while he had always been an impressive track athlete, he had only as recently as last year broken into the Top 10 academic ranks and, if rumours were to be believed, was set to rise even higher in the coming months. Adding this into his social standing, she couldn't fathom why he seemed so merciless and cold when dealing with the hollow yesterday. Then again, considering that his life and that of his adoptive sister was on the line, she could almost understand where he was coming from.

Hearing the shrill whistle from the coach, she looked over to see the team beginning to disperse and quietly slipped down from her perch, shadowing Ichigo as he disappeared into the school building. Hurrying to catch up with him, she broke into a jog, catching glimpses of his orange hair as he rounded corner after corner. Huffing in exasperation, she sprinted around the last corner, letting out a strangled yelp as a hand covered her mouth, while another wrapped around her neck and dragged her back into a deserted classroom. Struggling to break free of her captor's grip, she found herself abruptly thrown into a chair, wincing as her ass connected painfully with the seat.

"What the hell do you want?!" she yelled, glaring up at her attacker and finding Ichigo staring down at her with an impassive mask on his face.

"That's my line Kuchiki," he spoke coldly. "What are you doing at my school? You killed your monster so why don't you head home now?"

"I can't you idiot! You took all of my powers last night!" she shouted back at him, causing him to arch an eyebrow at her.

"What do you mean I took all of it? And what powers do you mean exactly?"

"It's understandable that you don't know much about it, especially since we were pressed for time and there was no time to educate you," she said with a tired sigh, smoothing out her skirt and making herself more comfortable. "First off, you need a brief overview of the spirit world. There are two kinds of spirits in this world; plus souls, which are your normal everyday ghosts and hollows, evil souls that consume the souls of both pluses, both living and dead." As she spoke, she walked over to the blackboard and began to draw cartoonish rabbit-like figures to illustrate it to him. While he remained neutral on the outside, he was inwardly cringing at the childish drawings and trying his best to wipe them from his mind.

"As for what I am, well I'm sure you've guessed by now that I am also dead. I am what you would call a soul reaper. We are normally invisible to the average human, unless we us a gigai or false body, like the one I am in now. We are responsible for maintaining the balance by helping plus souls pass on to heaven and purifying hollows that would feast on them," she said, drawing his attention to a new set of drawings, involving what looked like her with her sword hilt pressed against the forehead of a plus and another with her cleaving a hollow in two.

"And that's where you come in. Since you now have my powers, you're going to have to take over my duties and take care of any pluses or hollows from now on."

"And what makes you think that I'll do this? Last night was a one-time deal and I really don't feel like being at someone's beck and call like that to take care of monsters and ghosts," he said with a callous wave of his hand.

"I was afraid you'd want to do it the hard way," she said with a sigh as she reached into her shirt and pulled out a red glove with a black and white skull, surrounded by blue flames, on it and pulled it onto her hand. Before Ichigo could react, she had rushed at him, slamming her palm into his face and pushed him back. "Now that, that's sorted, we can…" she started to say, only to gasp and wince as she was grabbed around her neck yet again and slammed into the wall with bruising force. Looking back at Ichigo, she felt a shiver of fear run down her spine at the look of intense rage in his eyes.

"What did you do to me?!" he hissed through gritted teeth, pointing to his now lifeless body with his free hand.

"I…I just…freed your soul…from your body," she wheezed, struggling even harder as his grip around her neck tightened even more and making it even more difficult to breathe. "You need to do this Ichigo…you're responsible for the well-being of others now."

"What part of _"I won't do it_" don't you understand?" he spat at her, lifting her up a little higher so that her feet dangled uselessly in the air. "I've got my own life to live and as for the souls of the dead…let them fend for themselves; they've done nothing to help me in the past."

"But, but you have the power to help them…" she gasped out, feeling herself become increasingly light-headed. "It's your duty…" she was cut off as he dropped her to the ground, where she proceeded to take great, heaving breaths.

"You're exactly right about that Rukia, I have the power…and you don't," he said as he crouched down to be eye-level with her and held her chin in his hand. "And that means that I have the final say about what I do and don't do with these powers. So let me promise you this…you try and force me into doing this and I won't think twice of killing you and ridding myself of this problem you're giving me." Watching her grow pale at his threat, Ichigo smirked and made his way over to his lifeless body.

"Why?" she whispered softly, causing him to look at her over his shoulder at her. "Why are you so warm and friendly to the living, but so cruel and heartless to the dead? Don't you care that they used to be alive just like you?!"

"You think I care about the majority of the people in this world?" he asked incredulously. "You think that I'd doing this because I'm kind? Take a look around you Rukia, the students at this school practically worship me, would do anything for me. They believe what I want them to believe and allow me to reap the rewards of such devotion. Tell me then; what reward could I possibly get from helping the dead?" Waiting for her to reply, he scoffed when none was forthcoming. "If there's no reward for helping them, why should I bother risking my own skin for them?"

"What…what if there was a reward?" she said slowly, uncertainly, watching his ears perk up slightly in interest.

"I'm listening…"

"Soul reapers sent to the Living World for long-term deployment are offered a bounty on each of the hollows they kill. It's enough to keep them supplied while here and there have been cases where they saved up enough to use the leftovers to indulge in their own wants," she explained, earning his full attention again. "If I help you claim those bounties, will you keep the town safe from hollows?"

"Well we'll just have to see how much you're getting paid for killing them now won't we," he said with a smirk, walking over to her and pulling her to her feet.

"There's a hollow that's supposed to appear at a park nearby in fifteen minutes, you can find out there."

XXX

Fifteen minutes later and the pair of them were at the park mentioned in her report, waiting for the arrival of the hollow. Looking at him out of the corner of her eye, she could see a change come over him. Instead of the cocky attitude she expected and the one he used on a regular basis, or the cruel, heartless gaze he had last night, it was instead a completely blank look, devoid of all emotion. _'Typical of a mercenary I suppose,'_ she grumbled internally. She still couldn't believe that he was motivated by an emotion like greed; it just didn't tie in with anything she knew of him so far. Hearing her cell phone chime, she pulled it out and looked at the screen. "It's here," she murmured, just as a bug-like hollow barrelled out of the trees, howling as it pursued a little boy ghost.

"Guess I'm up then," he replied monotonously, pulling the large blade from his back. Unlike last night when he was so consumed by his hatred for the hollow that attacked them, Ichigo was surprised at the feeling he got from simply holding the blade. It seemed to actively be calling out to his soul, energising him beyond the adrenaline rush of battle and released an almost anguished cry as it begged to be allowed to cut something. Shaking his head to clear the battle haze that threatened to claim him, he rushed at the hollow with his blade held high. Ducking under the swing of its claw, he brought his blade down on its mask, cutting it in half with ease and causing it to disintegrate. Raising his blade to his eye-level, its cries seemed to diminish, almost as if it was satisfied for the moment.

"And it was worth ¥18900(1)…congratulations," she said in a whisper, staring at the tracker on her phone.

"You know Rukia…this really might not be so bad after all," he said, shouldering his blade and giving her a wicked grin.

XXX

Well that was fun. Now I know Ichigo may seem OOC, but I plan to reveal more life changing events as we progress, so please bear with me. In fact here's a little teaser. Do you remember the knife Ichigo had on him in the first chapter…what event do you think prompted him to carry it around? If you get it right, I might PM you with more hints, or maybe a teaser extract. Yeah I think that sounds like fun. Till next time boys and girls.

1 - ¥18900 – Is approximately $200


	3. Chapter 3

**A Black Heart**

And the feedback keeps getting better and better. Thanks to everyone that's read the story and a special thank you to my reviewers too. Anyway I won't distract you from the story any longer, read on and enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach.

"Normal speech"

'_Inner speech/thoughts'_

"_Kido/Zanpakuto Attacks/Quincy Techniques"_

"**Zanpakuto speech"**

"_**Hollow speech"**_

XXX

**Chapter 3:**

As the bell rang to signal the start of another day of school, Rukia, along with dozens of other students, trooped down the hallway to her classroom, her mind still stuck on Ichigo and their _agreement._ It was in hindsight a disadvantage to both her and the souls at large, since she needed the reward from the bounties to fund her recovery and the souls needed a protector that was more receptive to their plight. _'Tch, so much for his name meaning protector,'_ she thought with a scoff. _'He'd probably sell the pluses to the hollows if they were to offer him a reward.'_

Sighing at her less than complimentary thoughts, she walked into her classroom to find Ichigo surrounded by several girls, each of them blushing and becoming tongue-tied as they spoke to him. _'It seems to be the norm with most girls, except for those two,'_ she thought, looking over at Tatsuki and Ryo, the former watching Ichigo with a grimace, while the latter had her face buried in a book.

'_I wonder if they'd still blindly worship him if they saw him yesterday, if they heard him speak so casually about killing someone,'_ she mused. Swallowing the lump of bitterness in her throat, she settled into her seat next to him, ignoring the smirk he gave her.

XXX

The day passed in much the same way it did yesterday for Rukia, except this time she didn't have to watch Ichigo practice from afar as the boy had left after school along with the majority of the other students. What surprised her though was that he wasn't heading in the direction of his home, but in the completely opposite direction.

Following him as best she could, she watched as the well-kept streets deteriorated slowly, until finally they were walking along what she could only assume was the border of the slums and the town proper. Even after walking so far though, Ichigo didn't show any hint of slowing down any time soon, his eyes darting about from side to side every now and then.

"GAH!" a shrill young voice yelled out, distracting her from her target and causing her to look around to find the source. As luck would have it though, Ichigo seemed to hear it too and walked off in the direction it came from. When they finally came across the scene of the disturbance though, Rukia felt her blood boil in rage as a group of five men were clustered around a young girl, taunting and shoving her as she sobbed. Watching Ichigo to see what he would do, she was puzzled when he pulled a pair of black gloves out of his bag and slipped them on. Stooping over, he grabbed a medium sized brick and hurled it with all his strength at the thugs, hitting one square in the skull.

"Kazuya-san!" one of the thugs called out in horror as their comrade fell over to lie face down in the dirt, completely still, before turning as one to stare back at his attacker.

"You should get out of here little girl, your parents are probably worried sick about you," Ichigo said in a dead tone, breaking the girl out of her stunned state. Tears flowing down her face, she abruptly nodded and bolted to her feet, running out of the alley and barely giving Ichigo or Rukia a second glance.

"You! What the hell's your problem punk?!" one of the men screamed, stomping over to Ichigo and cracking his knuckles threateningly. As the thug threw a punch at him though, Ichigo nimbly sidestepped the blow and faster than their eyes could follow, drew a slim black blade from behind him and stabbed his attacker in his throat.

As Rukia and the remaining thugs watched in horror as the man let out a few gurgled murmurs, Ichigo smirked and twisted his blade, before ripping it out and allowing the crimson liquid to spray out and paint the alley they were in.

With a raw throated yell the surviving three men charged at him, grabbing blindly for anything they could use as a weapon against him. Chuckling as they drew closer to him, Ichigo quickly dodged to his side and slammed his heel into his attacker's temple, disorientating him long enough for him to duck in and thrust his blade up into the man's heart. Pushing the dying man back into his comrades, he watched as one of the remaining two stumbled over it, while the other leapt over it and tried to bring a steel pole down on him.

Dropping his blade to the ground with a soft clutter, Ichigo slid his body out of the way of his opponent's lunge and grabbed the pole with both hands. As they struggled over it, the man's last remaining comrade finally pushed his dead colleague off of him and charged at Ichigo's unprotected back. Catching the movement out of the corner of his eye, Ichigo lashed out with his foot, connecting with the man's groin and causing him to utter a high pitched shriek and let go of the pole.

Grinning at the man's pain, Ichigo quickly turned on his heel and swung at his last attacker, a dull ring echoing through the alley as blood, spittle and a few lone teeth went flying from the man's mouth. Walking over to his downed opponent as he spat up copious amounts of blood, Ichigo brought the pole down on his exposed neck, a sickening crack reverberating off the walls as the man dropped to the ground, his body unmoving.

Dropping the pole, he walked over to his black-bladed knife and picked it up, walking over to where the sole survivor twitched on the floor in pain. Kicking the man in his ribs, Ichigo rolled him over so that he was face up and bent down on one knee to grab the man by his hair.

"Hurts doesn't it?" Ichigo whispered in his ear, staring into the man's fear filled eyes with a demented grin. "How does it feel to be alone, to know that help isn't coming? Must be pretty similar to what that little girl felt right? You enjoyed it too right? The feeling of dominance over her, the feeling that no matter how much she begged and pleaded it did nothing more than encourage you right? That's all I'm feeling right now too, each of your cries, or the gurgle of blood as you drown in it is simply exquisite to my ears." Hearing the man whimper softly, Ichigo's grin grew even wider. "Yes…just like that. Sadly I think our time is at an end though, a pity really," he said with a sigh, before with one final flick, he slit the man's throat, watching as his lifeblood poured out of him.

Back in the alley's entrance, Rukia still couldn't believe what she had just watched. While she had heard the conviction in his words, believed the determination she had seen in his eyes, to actually see him kill and torture so easily sickened her to her stomach. Choking down the bile in her throat, she was horrified when he stooped down and started to rummage in each of his victims pockets, creating two small piles near him.

"What…what do you think you're doing?!" she shouted at him as she charged into the alley. Before she knew what was happening though, she was forced to duck as a stone was thrown in her direction, soon after followed by a hand grabbing her around her throat and slamming her into the wall. Feeling a cold object pressed against her neck, she winced as it cut slightly into her flesh.

"Rukia?" Ichigo said in shock, his expression morphing from blank, to concerned, to furious in the blink of an eye. "What the hell do you think you're doing here?"

"What am I doing here? What the hell are you doing Ichigo? I can understand helping the girl get away, but to do this…to take the lives of these men was wrong Ichigo! And now you pick their corpses clean, for what? Money? Trinkets?" she yelled, pointing at his pile of trophies.

"Oh save your breath Rukia, nothing you say will make me feel any different about what I did and as for that, all it is, is my reward for helping that little girl out."

Staring at him in shock, she felt herself drop to the ground as he released her and went back to looting their corpses. "Is that really all that motivates you, your greed? How many lives have you ended simply to satisfy your love for money!" she shouted at him, while he paused with his hands in one of the men's pockets.

"I'd tell you…but I've never kept track of how many people I've killed," he said in a dead tone, chilling her to the bone. "You say that I should care for the lives of these men Rukia, but remember I care for only the lives of a few people in this world. It was in my desperate attempt to protect one of those lives that I discovered the thrill and horror that was taking someone's life."

XXX

_I was thirteen when it happened and as surprising as it may sound, I was utterly pathetic in my own eyes. I lived with Tatsuki and her parents, but it wouldn't be too far off to say that I was simply a shell of a human being. I reacted only when needed and cared little for the world we live in, I still don't care for it. You don't get to hear my life story, but trust me when I say that I had a reason for being this weak. As for the catalyst, well let's just say that Tatsuki played a part in me needing to grow a spine._

_We were walking home after school, same old boring lessons, same old bullies and the same old, damned rainy weather. We walked home in silence most of the time, so Tatsuki didn't try to ask me how my day was and I didn't ask how hers was. As the rain got heavier though, we were forced to seek shelter at an old abandoned building, marked for demolition to pave way for a newer, brighter Karakura Town. Soon after we stopped though, we wrinkled our noses at the strong odour of alcohol near us, followed soon after by Tatsuki's muffled scream as a pair of arms wrapped around her waist and mouth and dragged her back. Looking at the guy, I felt a shiver of fear run down my spine at his size. He was easily twice my size with a bald head and scars all over his arms and chest, clothed in a muscle shirt and a pair of jeans._

_He cackled at how feisty Tatsuki was and how beautiful she was for one so young. You didn't need to be a genius to see where his thoughts were going, especially with how his hands were pawing her body. Despite every fibre of my being telling me to run away, to find help, I rushed at him like an idiot and felt like I slammed into a brick wall as I frantically pummelled him._

_He simply kicked me away, sending me crashing into the side of the building. Dazed and confused, I could do nothing more than cry out as he lashed out repeatedly at me with his feet, keeping his grip on Tatsuki as she cried out for him to stop. I must've been on the verge of unconsciousness when he finally stopped and I whimpered in pain as he tossed Tatsuki to the ground._

_My memories of it are fuzzy at this point, but I remember him drawing a knife out of his pocket and starting to cut away her clothes, all the while she struggled against him for all she was worth. It was just by sheer luck that she managed to kick his wrist, sending the knife flying over to where I lay sprawled out on the ground. He didn't like that and slapped her once, twice, three times before she whimpered and remained still._

_It was when he started fumbling for his belt buckle that something finally snapped inside me and by some miracle I managed to haul myself up on my arms and knees and crawled over to the knife. Just as he managed to pull his pants down, I leapt at him, blindly stabbing his knife into his neck. He screamed, loud and raw, trying to grab me and throw me off, but he tripped over his pants and fell to the ground, struggling for all he was worth. I lost count of how many times I stabbed him, but by the time I was done both of us were nothing more than pure crimson figures._

_I still don't know where Tatsuki found the strength, but she dragged me away from him and half-dragged me home in the pouring rain, the low visibility actually helping us hide and washing away some of the evidence. When we finally made it home, I was torn between relief and anger that the house was empty, but I couldn't blame Tatsuki's parents for both working to support us._

_Dragging me into the bathroom, she stripped both of us down and pulled me into the shower. When the hot water hit my skin, I hissed as my cuts and bruises flared in pain, the only thing keeping me from collapsing being her arms. Despite the obvious trauma she was in, she was still coherent enough to wash away any traces of blood and dirt on the both of us. When the water was finally turned off, she led me back to my room, leaving me only for a moment to grab a change of clothes from her own and a roll of bandages and some disinfectant for when we scratched ourselves._

_She tended to each of the tears in my skin, cleaning and bandaging them with shaky hands and tear-filled eyes. Once she was done, she laid down on my bed, exhaustion starting to claim her. Too tired to protest or move somewhere else, I joined her, staring at my hands with a dazed expression._

"_Tatsuki…" I whispered softly, causing her to turn and stare at me. "…I killed a man."_

"_He wasn't a man," she whispered back, even softer, hugging herself tightly as her own nightmare must've replayed in her own head. "He wasn't a man."_

"_Tatsuki…I…I enjoyed it," I said, watching as she looked at me in shock, her eyes pleading with me to explain. "I...enjoyed hearing him scream Tatsuki. I enjoyed causing him as much pain as he caused us. I…I want to bring him back just so that I can do it all again Tatsuki."_

_I don't know who started first, but all I know is that both of us were crying. Her for the horror and sadness that we just had to experience and me…I cried because for the first time in four years I felt alive again._

XXX

"For days, weeks after that I lived in perpetual fear that the police would come knocking on our door, that they would know what I did and send me away somewhere to get help, or even more irrationally, to lock me away. After a while though, my worry was replaced with curiosity and after that came ecstasy. Was that man's life so unimportant to them that they wrote him off as a victim of his own evil ways? If so could I do it again and possibly get away with it? These were the thoughts that consumed me Rukia," Ichigo explained, turning around to face the soul reaper for the first time since he started the story.

"I'm no idiot Rukia, but it took time and copious amounts of research to plan out what I would do. Gloves to prevent the transfer of fingerprints, common clothing so that they couldn't identify me as easily and a mask so that I remained unrecognisable." Reaching into his bag once again, he pulled out a plain black ski mask. "As you can see though, I did away with it because I found that I relished the look of despair in their faces as they stared into their killer's face, that they had an image to haunt their dreams even in the afterlife!"

Picking up a wad of cash, he casually tossed it up into the air over and over again. "I found that they even paid for the very tools I needed to use and after a while, my addiction became a steady source of income, giving me the chance to give gifts to those that meant something to me."

"It did raise a question though," he said as he finally finished his looting of their corpses and started to walk away. "I needed to be stronger, faster, smarter than them, so how did I do that? The same way that anyone else learns a profession really, you learn from someone who is stronger, faster and smarter than you are. I became enamoured with famous serial killers and murderers. I studied their habits, their mannerisms, and their methodology to learn what mistakes not to make."

"One thing the smart ones had in common was that they hid who they really were from the majority of people and so I followed in their footsteps. I joined the school track team to improve my speed and in doing so, became their hero at school competitions. They became my _friends_, convenient alibis when I needed one and tools for me to use. The guys want to be me and the girls want to be with me. To most it looked like I had simply moved on and made amends with my past. No one would even think that I could be capable of such a thing after my recovery."

Seeing her frozen from the glimpse into his life, he chuckled and raised a hand to wave goodbye to her. "You may want to leave now Rukia, the cops are slow, but they'll be here eventually."

Leaving her alone in the alley with the lifeless bodies of the men he had killed, Rukia clenched her fists tightly as her shoulders shook, before she tore out of the alley at a breakneck sprint. _'Dear Kami…I've given my powers to a monster.'_

XXX

Walking home from his dealings with a shady fence he had discovered early in his _career_, Ichigo couldn't help but whistle a tune as almost ¥52000(1) rested comfortably in the bottom of his bag. All things considered, it was one of his better hauls for a pair of low level thugs. Rukia's expression made the entire affair even more worth it, since it was rare that he got a chance to let his mask drop and showing people the real Ichigo Kurosaki told him a lot about them.

While she was appalled with what he had done, he could see a hint of her that had done the same thing in the past. And while he revelled in the feeling of ending someone's life, she seemed to shy away from it, finding it more disgusting than probably anything else in the world. Reaching his shared apartment with Tatsuki, he kicked off his shoes at the door, dumped his bag on the dinner table and walked into the kitchen, spying a note on the fridge.

_Ichigo,_

_Gone to Orihime's for dinner, don't worry yours is in the microwave._

_Back later,_

_Tatsuki_

Crumbling up the note and tossing it into the trash, he grinned as he opened the microwave and caught a whiff of the beef stew that was sitting there. If there was one dish he was glad that Tatsuki's mother had passed on to her, it was her beef stew, simply nothing in this world could compare to it after all.

Setting the stew and a bowl of rice on a tray, he carried it towards his room, struggling not to drool at the sight. As he passed the cupboard in the hallway though, he paused at the faint beeping coming from it. Narrowing his eyes in suspicion, he began to slowly reach for the door, before it was abruptly slammed open and Rukia leapt out of it, dressed in one of Tatsuki's oversized shirts and shorts.

"What the hell?" he shouted at her, his dinner being knocked to the floor as she charged at him with the same glove from yesterday on her hand.

"No time to explain!" she yelled back at him, slamming her palm into his chest and ejecting his soul, just as a blood-red hand appeared from the wall and made a wild grab for him.

Watching as the rest of the beast emerged, Ichigo glared at the hollow that dared defile his home. It was huge, barely fitting into the hallway, its upper half a muscled blood-red, while its lower half was brown and snake-like. Its shoulder length black hair framed its white mask as it howled an eerie roar that sent shivers down his spine.

Reaching for his sword, Ichigo froze and cursed, realising that the narrow hallway restricted both him and the hollow. _'Just need to make a slight adjustment then,'_ he thought as his mind flashed back to a duel between two jousters that he had watched a few years ago. Drawing his blade, he held it ready in front of him.

Howling at his display of defiance, the hollow lunged at him, maw open wide and revealing two sets of teeth, intent on tearing into Ichigo's flesh. Waiting for just a moment, Ichigo rushed forward to meet him, aiming his blade for the hollow's eyes. As they neared one another though, the hollow surprised him with its speed and his blow skated across its eye, lodging itself just to the left of its forehead.

Roaring in pain and rage, the hollow grabbed his blade with both hands, its palms bleeding slightly as it was cut from grabbing the edge and struggled to pull it out. Manoeuvring its body a bit, it managed to free its tail, lashing out at Ichigo with it and sending both the soul reaper and his blade flying backwards.

Grunting as his back struck the wall, Ichigo glared up at the hollow, watching impassively as a crack split across its mask, before breaking away and turning to dust. As a ghastly human scream echoed in his ears, Ichigo's eyes widened in shock at the partial face that was revealed beneath it.

"Come on we need to chase it now!" Rukia shouted at him, breaking him out of his reverie.

"No…before we go anywhere, you're going to tell me a little bit more about these monsters you've had me killing," he said, his body quivering slightly as he stared at her with rage filled eyes.

XXX

I wonder how he plans to deal with this development. Here's to hoping that I at least make it entertaining enough for you. Now as for the question I posed last time, you guys were close in some aspects and way off on others, but I hope this was an interesting chapter for you to read. Till next time, bye-bye!

1 – About $560 at the time of writing.


	4. Chapter 4

**A Black Heart**

Welcome back one and all. Been a bit busy with work (Think I might pass out from exhaustion one of these days), but I finally managed to get a chapter out. I hope you enjoy it since it caused me quite the headache in trying to re-create.

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach.

"Normal speech"

'_Inner speech/thoughts'_

"_Kido/Zanpakuto Attacks/Quincy Techniques"_

"**Zanpakuto speech"**

"_**Hollow speech"**_

XXX

**Chapter 4:**

Glaring back at him, Rukia huffed and crossed her arms. "We don't have time for this Ichigo. Now hurry up, we can't afford to lose him." As she started to move towards the door though, she was halted by his hand slamming into the wall in front of her.

"Not until you tell me more about these hollows I've been killing," he hissed in a low tone, his eyes boring into her own as he towered over her.

"Does it really matter? You haven't exactly seemed bothered about taking a human life before, so why does the life of a hollow matter so much to you?" she shouted back at him, causing his brow to darken.

"Do you really think that I'm some mindless killer Rukia? Believe me…there are far worse monsters in this world. But I am not without my own rules. That hollow…his face…it was Orihime's brother. If I kill him, I'm hurting Orihime, which will end up hurting Tatsuki, a rule I swore I would never break. Now, what exactly have I been killing?!" he shouted at her, his voice echoing through the corridor.

Flinching at the volume of his voice, Rukia scowled and looked up at him. While she expected to see anger in his eyes, she was surprised to see a hint of pain, of sorrow, glinting from within them. Sighing, she ran a hand over her tired face, thinking of where to start.

"I've told you before that one of a soul reaper's duties is to assist plus souls in passing on to Soul Society. Unfortunately some souls resist the process, due to either some deep sorrow, or their anger at their violent death." Seeing his ears prick up at that comment, she filed it away for later. "Given enough time, that chain you see attached to their chests, otherwise known as their Chain of Fate, erodes away and they lose their heart. This loss is what turns them into a hollow. The far quicker and messier way though would be if they were consumed by another hollow as they would be reborn as a hollow themselves, under the control of the hollow that attacked them."

"And the souls, why do they feel the need to devour other souls?" he asked, his mind vaguely registering that he might've created several hollows himself.

"The loss of their heart essentially turns them into mindless beasts, beasts that are wracked by an insatiable hunger and deep rooted pain. Their instincts lead them to devour other souls to get some sort of relief from this pain, but it is an endless hunger, with them to the time they are either purified by a soul reaper, or eaten by another hollow."

"What do you mean by purify them? As far as you've told me, I've been killing them, simple as that."

"You haven't been killing them Ichigo…more granting them peace by sending them to Soul Society. It is why our zanpakutos are so important, with them we cleanse them of their sins committed as a hollow, allowing them to pass on."

"So what you're saying is that I really have no reason to feel guilty about killing them. Heh, that's a load of my mind," he said with a smirk, sheathing his blade on his back. "Now then…we have a hollow to hunt. I don't suppose that piece of junk you call a phone can find him?"

"It's not a piece of junk!" she shot back, clutching her phone defensively to her chest. "It doesn't help that he's hiding in Hueco Mundo at the moment. If I had to guess though, I'd say that he was only turned fairly recently if his mask was able to break that easily. Generally when souls become hollows, they are drawn to consume their immediate family members first since their memories haven't completely left them just yet." Looking up at Ichigo again, she raised an eyebrow at how pale he was. "Is something…HEY!" she shouted after him, dodging out the way as he tore out of the apartment and leapt into the cool night air.

XXX

"Ah Tatsuki-chan's cooking is sooo good!" Orihime squealed, drooling at the steaming bowl of stew in front of her.

"Yeah well, I'm nothing special," Tatsuki replied sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head in embarrassment. "Besides I can only make four or five dishes anyway."

"That's not true!" Orihime mumbled through a mouthful of stew and rice, pointing at Tatsuki with her chopsticks. "You really don't give yourself enough credit!"

"Hush Orihime, no talking with your mouth full!" Tatsuki shot back, chuckling as Orihime vigorously nodded her head, before returning to her bowl. Resting her chin on her palm, her elbow securely on the table, she acquired a wistful look in her eyes as she stared at nothing in particular. As her mind drifted back to when she caught a glimpse of Ryo and Ichigo earlier that day, she couldn't help but imagine herself in Ryo's position, her body being ravaged by his lips as he left a trail of kisses down her neck, while his slim fingers worked at the buttons on her shirt.

"Tatsuki-chan…" Orihime whispered, breaking her out of her daydream and making her aware of how heated her cheeks were. "You were thinking about Kurosaki-kun again weren't you?"

"N-n-no I wasn't!" she stuttered, vehemently protesting against the very idea that she had a thing for her adoptive brother.

"You don't have to lie to me Tatsuki-chan…after all, you're not the only girl that probably has those dreams," she said with a giggle. "You're lucky though, you get to see Kurosaki-kun every day and get to put an actual image to whatever he's hiding under all those clothes," she said with a sigh.

'_If only you knew what was really beneath the surface Orihime,'_ she thought with a grimace, wondering where Ichigo was tonight. Knowing him he had already landed himself in some trouble. Hearing an eerie howl in the distance, her spine stiffened and she looked around in slight fear, wondering what had caused that sound.

"Is something wrong?" Orihime asked puzzled, mimicking her friend as she looked around curiously. Hearing a soft thump, the two of them looked around to see Orihime's pink stuffed teddy bear lying face down on the ground. "Eh! How'd you get all torn up?" she asked in dismay, staring forlornly at the ragged tear that ran across the bear's face.

As another howl echoed through the night, Tatsuki flinched and made her way over to Orihime, her eyes darting to the windows frantically. Hearing her gasp, she spun on her heel, staring wide-eyed at her friend's lifeless body. Before she could look around and find the source though, she cried out in pain as she was sent barrelling backwards into the wall, crying out even louder as she hit it. Dazed and confused, she barely registered the blood pouring from her shoulder.

Her focus was instead on the same, half-man, half-snake-like hollow that had attacked Ichigo earlier that evening, its gaping maw revealing a double row of teeth that longed to sink into her flesh. _'The mask…it's just like that monster we saw the other day.'_ Her revelation was cut short though as the monster no longer seemed content with glaring at her and instead batted her away with a backhand, before slamming its hand down hard on her chest.

Coughing as the life was literally being crushed out of her, Tatsuki heaved as the weight from her chest vanished and she rolled onto her side, struggling for breath. Peering through half-lidded eyes, she could just make out Orihime's figure next to her, a chain attached to her chest. "Ori…hime…" she muttered, before passing out from the pain.

"Tatsuki-chan!" Orihime screamed in horror, shaking her friend's shoulder in an attempt to wake her. When she had seen the monster crushing her friend, she had reacted on instinct and leapt at its arm, knocking it away from her friend.

"_**Orihime…"**_ the monster called out in a screechy tone, drawing her attention to it.

"H-How do y-you know my name?" she stuttered out in a whisper, staring up fearfully at it.

"_**Don't you recognise me Orihime…after everything I gave to raise you…YOU DON'T EVEN REMEMBER ME!" **_it screamed at her, making her cower before it.

Peering at him closely, she couldn't quite make out who he was, until finally she glanced at his hair, remembering the one person she knew that had a similar style. "Onii-chan?" she asked uncertainly, shrinking back as it slammed its hand into the wall next to her. As her brother opened his mouth to say more though, she heard an eerie howl, followed by a second monster appearing through the walls of her home.

Like her brother, the monster was a humanoid animal, in this case a bipedal pig with dark brown skin, large muscled arms and legs, a rotund belly and a perfectly piggish face. _**"What are you doing here Acidwire *snort*? Fisher sent you to attack the soul reaper boy *snort*, not some snivelling little girls."**_ It even snorted like a pig, Orihime thought, but the gravity of the situation silenced any chuckle that she might have had.

"_**It's none of your business Porsin, now leave!"**_ her brother howled, coiling his tail around Orihime slightly.

"_**Oh? *snort* But you seem to have found some particularly delicious morsels here. It would be awfully rude of you not to share. *snort*" **_As it reached for Tatsuki's limp body, Orihime felt a sudden surge of energy and ducked out from her brother's tail and rushed at the pig-like hollow.

"Leave Tatsuki-chan alone!" she shouted, flying through the air to tackle its arm away like she had before. Only this time she yelped as she was caught with ease in the monster's free hand.

"_**Such eager prey tonight, you'll go down quite nicely," **_it chuckled, opening its mouth and lifting her up to it.

"No…let me go, let me go!" she screamed, punching and kicking the arm holding her as she fought to escape.

"_**NOOO!" **_Sora Inoue screamed, leaping at his fellow hollow and tackling him, causing him to drop both girls to the ground.

"_**What are you doing Acidwire?!"**_ Porsin squealed, grunting as he was thrown through the wall onto the street below. Slithering after him, Sora sent a jab straight at his face, howling in rage as his opponent dodged and backed away slightly. _**"So…you've decided to be selfish then…guess I get to eat you too then!"**_ Snorting, Porsin charged at Sora, ducking under another fist and head-butting him, winding him.

Back in Orihime's apartment, Tatsuki was just beginning to regain consciousness just as the fight outside began. Seeing Orihime near the hole in the wall, she slowly crawled over to her friend, wincing as her injuries flared in pain. "Orihime…" she coughed out when she finally made it over, resting her uninjured shoulder against the wall as she struggled to stay awake.

"Tatsuki-chan! Here let me help," Orihime mumbled, supporting Tatsuki's slight weight. Hearing a howl of pain, both girls turned back to the fight outside, Tatsuki's eyes shooting open as she watched both white-masked monsters fighting against one another.

Sora howled again as his punch was easily redirected and his opponent spun him around. Feeling his tail being grabbed, he was powerless to stop it as he was pulled back and thrown through the air, slamming into a wall and breaking straight through it. Shifting the rubble off his body, he howled in pain once again as a hoofed foot slammed into his chest, breaking several bones.

"_**Pathetic…*snort*,"**_ Porsin grunted, grabbing Sora by his neck and lifting him up. _**"Is that it? Is that all the fight you have?"**_

As if in answer to his question, Sora opened his mouth as wide as possible and vomited a yellowish acid all over his opponent's face, neck and torso, causing him to howl in agony as his flesh was burned away. Taking advantage of the opening, he delivered a gut-wrenching fist into his gut, followed by a bone-breaking uppercut that sent him flying backwards.

Rolling off his back, Porsin coughed and tried to catch his breath, snorting in surprise as left leg was grabbed, before he was sent flying away again, straight into a jagged metal fence that tore into the soft flesh of his back. As Sora closed in to deliver the finishing blow though, the pig-like hollow disappeared into a black portal, leaving him there to howl in outrage.

"What the hell is going on here Orihime?" Tatsuki asked, retreating back into the apartment so she could escape the unearthly howls she was hearing.

"I…I don't know Tatsuki-chan, but I think…I think that's my brother down there," she murmured softly, turning back to watch her brother. Unknown to the three of them though, a small black portal had appeared behind Sora, hidden from Orihime's view by his large girth.

Before any of them could react, the pig had leapt out of it, maw open wide, drool trailing along behind him and clamped down on Sora's shoulder, tearing out a chunk of flesh with ease.

Howling in pain, Sora tried to reach back and grab him, but was unable to as the pig bit down on him again and grabbed his one functioning arm. Feeling the familiar tearing of flesh, all Sora could do was collapse in pain, his arms hanging limp and useless at his sides.

"_**You were a fool to challenge me Acidwire,"**_ the pig spat at him. _**"Now instead of sharing a meal…you are the meal. Don't worry though, I'll let you watch as I devour those two pretty little ladies behind me," **_he finished with a dark chuckle, turning away from his downed opponent and walking back to the hole in the apartment.

Seeing him approach, Orihime paled and started to pull frantically on Tatsuki's shirt, trying to urge the injured martial artist to move. "He's coming, please Tatsuki-chan we need to move faster!" she pleaded, dragging her friend's sluggish body along with her away from the wall.

"You need to run Orihime, I'm doing nothing but slowing you down," Tatsuki wheezed, clutching her side as breathing became even more difficult.

"Don't say that! Now come on," Orihime said frantically, only to scream as she and Tatsuki were yanked back, the chain on her chest hurting her painfully as it was used to reel them in.

"_**Now, now girly, I've had quite enough exercise for one evening. I don't want to have to catch my food too. Ooh your friend smells so…tasty. I must have her!" **_it squealed, lifting Tatsuki up by her legs and dangling her upside down, as if to swallow her whole.

"Tatsuki-chan….TATSUKI-CHAN!" she screamed, just as the hollow started to lower her into its mouth. As if summoned by her scream though, a black, orange and silver blur darted past the monster, slicing clean through its shoulder and grabbing Tatsuki before she could fall.

Looking up at her saviour and his distinctly orange hair, Tatsuki grinned and murmured, "You're late Ichigo," before promptly passing out again.

Glaring up at the hollow as it howled and clutched its missing arm, Ichigo leapt up to the window and carefully set her down near Orihime.

"Kurosaki-kun…" she whispered in disbelief, flinching as he turned his furious gaze on her. Tearing his gaze away from her, he leapt back out the hole in the wall, landing with a dull thud outside. Biting her lip, Orihime slowly crawled after him, watching as he and the hollow stared each other down.

"_**You dare injure me you worm!" **_Porsin howled at Ichigo in outrage, clutching his stump of an arm with the other. _**"I don't care what Fisher says, you're mine to consume!"**_ To his amazement though, Ichigo drew his zanpakuto, but with the blade still covered in its sheath. _**"What's the matter boy, forgot how a sword works? You can't cut me up like that!" **_he chuckled.

Ignoring his taunt, Ichigo wordlessly charged at his opponent, dodging the fist sent at his face and slamming his blade, sheath and all into his knee, shattering the bone with a deafening crack.

Squealing in agony, Porsin dropped to his one good knee, trying to support himself with his one remaining arm. Feeling Ichigo run up his spine, he surged to his feet, trying to shake him off. Unheeding of his efforts though, Ichigo merely grabbed onto the thick hair that poked out of the base of his mask, yanking back as hard as he could and driving his blade straight into the hollows exposed side and causing him to squeal out loud again.

"What's the matter pig?! With all that talk, I would have thought that you would put up more of a fight than this!" he whispered, a cold glare on his face. "But you're not screaming loud enough yet…" Twisting his blade, he leapt from the hollows back, dragging his blade down and cutting a massive gash in the hollows side and drenching the ground in its blood.

Tearing himself off the blade, Porsin staggered back, clutching his wounded side. Whimpering as the pain in his side flared, he felt a shiver of fear run down his spine as Ichigo took slow, purposeful steps towards him, each step bringing him closer and closer to his execution.

"_**Bastard!"**_ he howled now in fear, aiming to crush Ichigo with the flat of his palm. His efforts ultimately proved in vain though as Ichigo ducked underneath him, his greater speed allowing him to rush in and drive the point of his zanpakuto clean through his chin and out of his skull.

Watching impassively as the hollow disappeared after he purified it, Ichigo turned his glare on Sora, the first hollow to ruin his evening, stomping over to him and raising his blade to end it once and for all.

Watching from the side-lines though, Orihime paled as he held his blade at the ready, mere moments away from finishing off the being she believed to be her brother. "NO! Please don't do it Kurosaki-kun!" she shouted, running between them and holding her arms out to her sides, shielding Sora from Ichigo.

"Out of the way Inoue! He dies now for everything he's done!" Ichigo growled back at her, noticing Rukia appear at the end of the street, panting and covered in sweat.

"But…but he's…he's…" she whispered, looking into her brother's pained eyes as he watched the exchange between the two of them.

"He's not your brother anymore Orihime!" he screamed at her, causing her to wince at his venomous tone of voice. "Would the brother you remember have done any of this? Hurt you like this?"

"But he protected us…protected me…" she mumbled, looking up at him with tears in her eyes. "He wasn't in the right state of mind when he did that, but he's back now!"

"He's a monster now Inoue and given the chance he will be back to kill you, willingly or not! Now out of my way!" he spat at her, shoving her out of the way roughly.

"No stop Kurosaki-kun! He doesn't deserve this!" Orihime screamed as he raised his blade again, his expression pained as he was torn between anger and sadness. Glancing between Orihime's tearful eyes, Rukia's judgemental ones and Sora's resigned expression, he faltered for a moment, only to roar and bring his blade down with thunderous force, causing Orihime to scream out loud once more and shy away from the scene.

Hearing what sounded like a crack instead of a scream of agony though, she peered through her fingers to see Ichigo with the hilt of his sword against Sora's mask, the mask cracking under the strain of the blow, until finally it seemed to shatter completely, leaving his human face left behind.

Heaving a deep breath, Ichigo stood up and sheathed his blade on his back, looking down on both Orihime and her brother with a hint of distaste in his blank mask. "I don't know how long it will last, so say your goodbyes before you I need to send you on," he muttered in a low growl, stalking off back towards Orihime's home.

"Thank you Kurosaki-kun, thank you!" Orihime mumbled through more tears, wrapping her arms around her brother's head and resting his head in her lap.

Kneeling next to Tatsuki, he became aware of Rukia kneeling down on her other side, staring at him rather curiously. "What?!" he growled at her, a hint of exasperation in his tone.

"You didn't kill him…why?" she asked in a dead tone, making his brows furrow as he tried to think of an explanation.

"I told you, I have rules," he muttered, turning his concentration back to Tatsuki and her injuries. Not hearing another question from her, he was surprised when she held a glowing green palm over Tatsuki's injuries and in mere seconds, caused the wounds from the evening to disappear. Looking up at her curiously, he could see her pointedly ignoring him, concentrating on each wound as she treated them. "Thank you Rukia," he mumbled, seeing her nod ever so slightly in acknowledgement.

XXX

So…significantly different from canon, but I hope it was enjoyable nevertheless. Right, time for some responses.

**Insight Corner:**

Targets – I'll reveal more about this as we go. For now this was just one of his rules. Women are still valid targets; he did threaten Rukia after all.

Dexter – If he seems like Dexter, that is purely coincidental since I have no plans of him following the same route. Remember, Dexter only killed people after assuring himself of their guilt and for serious crimes. My Ichigo so far seems motivated by greed and selfishness.

That's all for now guys and girls. Please let me know what you liked about the chapter. Hopefully I'll be able to update sooner this time.


	5. Chapter 5

**A Black Heart**

Another day, another update. Here's the latest chapter I'm sure some of you have been hungering for.

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach.

"Normal speech"

'_Inner speech/thoughts'_

"_Kido/Zanpakuto Attacks/Quincy Techniques"_

"**Zanpakuto speech"**

"_**Hollow speech"**_

XXX

**Chapter 5:**

The following morning found Ichigo, seated in his classroom, idly gazing out the window as he listened half-heartedly to Orihime's tale. Considering that he was there when it happened, he didn't need to, but hearing her speak about two monstrous robots having a grudge match near her home that ended up in the middle of her apartment was simply too amusing, especially with the amount of theatrics she was putting in to it.

"I assume this is what you meant about them not remembering last night," he whispered to the girl next to him, noticing her glance at the group and give a slight nod of her head. "Figures…though the story could use a little more realism in it," he muttered as he stretched his arms above his head and leaned back in his chair. "But then again what can you expect when the dead are absolutely blind to the World of the Living," he said in a mocking tone, earning a glare from the petite girl next to him.

"The memories replaced by the Kikanshinki are based upon findings found in the Living World and are considered to be in line with what a reasonable human would expect to have happened after examining the damage to their surroundings," she hissed at him, causing him to scoff in response.

"And what reasonable human being would expect giant robots to have a grudge match in their home, let alone exist in the first place?" he retorted. "Plus from what I can see, that thing didn't give the same memory to everyone involved last night," he said, jerking his head over in Tatsuki's direction as said girl calmly patted Orihime on the head and explained that it was a gas leak from one of the other tenants.

"She's probably defective like you then since this is practically guaranteed to work on any normal human," Rukia huffed to herself, but paled as she suddenly found a large shadow standing over her. Worried at the possibility that Ichigo had heard her, she turned towards the shadow, only to balk at the sheer size of the teen standing in front of her. Towering over her, looking the least bit fazed at her gaping at him, was a dark skinned teen that stood well over 6'5", with dark brown hair that covered his eyes, hiding them from view.

"Yo Chad, you've been missing from school for some time. Nothing bad happened I hope?" Ichigo asked casually as he idly twirled a pen between his middle and index finger and paying no mind to the silent giant two desks away.

"No, but I caught a cold," Chad replied, his voice hoarse as he spoke, which caused the pen in Ichigo's grip to fumble and slip to the floor with a clatter.

Looking over at his giant friend, Ichigo's eyes widened in surprise at the hint of red on his nose, the sweat beaded on his skin and the sound of sniffling that he was pretty sure was coming from him. Unable to even hold it in any longer, Ichigo exploded into laughter, startling several of the other students and Rukia as his chair leaned back precariously. After several moments of his raucous laughter and Rukia wondering whether he was about to earn the beating of a life time, Ichigo seemed to calm down and let out a few stray chuckles as he stood to his full height and smiled up at the tall teen.

"You take a beating for standing up for others on a regular basis and it doesn't even scratch you, but one little bug and you're done for the count…you've gotta be kidding me," Ichigo said with grin. Hearing a slight flutter behind Chad, Ichigo craned his neck to the side and spotted a bird cage with a small parakeet resting inside it. As he bent down to examine it and maintain his caring façade, he felt an eerie shiver run down his spine as his fingers brushed over the small creature. To his and the other students surprise, the bird seemed just as shocked by his touch and hurriedly retreated away from his fingers, hiding it's head under its wing.

"Ah guess he just doesn't like me," he said as he withdrew his hand and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. As everyone went back to their own conversations and Chad took his seat, Ichigo's expression darkened with distaste, unaware of the eyes that watched him.

XXX

Hidden away in a disused classroom during the lunch-break, Ryo frowned as her fingers danced over Ichigo's skin, relieving the stiff tension she felt in his shoulders. Ever since that new transfer student had arrived, she'd found that he either had some injury he didn't want to explain to her, or was frustrated with something. Finding that she was growing tired of strain on her fingers, she gave his shoulders one last squeeze and moved to stand in front of him. Staring up at her with an eyebrow raised, he was taken back when she settled herself into his lap, her crotch grinding into his own. Placing his hands on her waist to support her, he felt her lips glide up his neck, past his cheek and ending with a peck on his lips.

"What's wrong today?" she breathed into his ear, nipping at his neck as she ran her hands through his hair, feeling him relax all the more quickly under her initiative. "With how worked up you've been," she placed a kiss at the hollow of his neck as she worked to unbutton his shirt, "you're going to start dropping places on the rankings." His shirt undone, she slipped her hands into it, her nails scraping across his flesh and sending a shiver of pleasure down his spine. "You know I won't be pleased if all these tutoring sessions were for nothing." Feeling his fingers slip under her skirt and pinch her rear harshly, she looked up and was met with a blank expression on his face, while his eyes burned with a hint of indignation.

"I told you that failing is not in my nature Ryo, you'd do well to remember that," he muttered under his breath, before crushing his lips to hers and pulling roughly on her hair as he threaded his fingers through it.

XXX

Meanwhile, Rukia was staring curiously at the parakeet several metres away from her as she munched on her lunch. She knew full well that a plus inhabited it, but what she couldn't understand and what consumed her curiosity was why it had flinched away from Ichigo, not that she blamed it of course. Thinking it had been his presence as soul reaper, she had watched for the same reaction, but was surprised when the soul was instead affectionate, rubbing itself against her outstretched fingers.

It was most likely similar to the way that other soul reapers often spoke of the 'feel' of someone else's reiatsu, which could evoke feelings of terror among other things to the person. If that was true, then did other souls also inherently feel this fear when Ichigo approached them? For those that did retain their memories after crossing over, did this mean that they would naturally be wary of soul reapers, fearing them all because of Ichigo's impression? Despite the obvious drawback, what choice did she have but to have him continue and hope that word of his exploits didn't make it back to the Seireitei.

"Yo Ichigo!" she heard another student shout as the subject of her worries walked across the field in her direction, returning some of the greetings. When he was finally in front of her, she was unsurprised at the scowl on his face.

"That bird…is it a danger to Chad?" he asked, earning a shrug from her.

"For now, no" she said as she returned to her lunch, not paying any attention to him. "I'm surprised that you care though. I thought you only went for anything with a pair of breasts and wearing a skirt. Feeling him flick her on her nose, she bristled slightly and glared up at him.

"If that were true midget," he whispered under his breath, "I would've already broken you in. I've had plenty of chances too. But no, Chad owes me a debt and I'm not about to let something happen to him if I have the power to stop it."

Hearing that she scoffed and stood up, still having to look up at him due to his imposing height. "So what, if they can't pay you, you enslave them, why am I not surprised!"

"Have you learned nothing from looking at everyone around me Rukia? I don't force people to submit to me, nor force them to repay me. They simply want to repay me for helping them."

"You say that as if the Living are the only ones truly capable of paying you back Ichigo. Is the promise from a soul not worth anything to you?"

"Tch, you should know the answer to that already Rukia. The Dead can't help me, the Living can." Before she could utter another retort, he looked over at a group of girls calling him and walked off to join them, leaving the soul reaper to fume in silence.

XXX

Grunting as he dove out of the way of a falling I-beam, Chad spared it brief glance, before checking the cage in his hands and making sure that the bird in it was safe. Seeing it unharmed, he got to his feet and started on his way home again. It seemed strange that accidents like that kept happening. First it was the motorcyclist that crashed into him, followed by the scaffolding from another construction site. Of course the one that proved the greatest loss was the shipment of ice-cream that he was literally buried under. Not only did it give him a slight head-cold, he had dug himself out to the sight of hundreds of litres of ice-cream simply melting on the street, certainly a terrible burden to the company representative and kids that stood watching it.

"Sorry for being so much trouble Mister," the parakeet said in a high-pitched voice, drawing his attention.

"It's no problem," he replied, his voice still hoarse as he kept walking. "I promise I won't let anything happen to you."

"Will you keep that man away too?" it asked, prompting Chad to pause mid-step.

"Which man?"

"The one that laughed at you this morning," the bird said as it seemed to shiver recalling its first meeting with Ichigo. "He…he scares me." Hearing that, Chad frowned and started walking again.

"He won't hurt you Yuuichi, I can promise you that too."

XXX

After what he considered to be a tiring day, both with his studies and matters related to the spiritual world, Ichigo sighed and kicked off his shoes as he entered the apartment he shared with Tatsuki. Hearing his roommate's raised voice; he suppressed a sigh and muttered a curse at her inviting Orihime over for dinner. By all means she was completely within her rights to do so, but considering that she knew just how her friend reacted around him, he would've hoped that they had held the dinner at her place.

"I'm home," he called out as he made his way to the kitchen, after all there was no point in being rude to her, at least on the outside he though with a chuckle. As he rounded the corner to the kitchen though, he froze as he found that it was not the orange-haired ditz that was staying for dinner, but the violet-eyed annoyance.

"Oh hey Ichigo," Tatsuki called as she turned her attention away from the pan for a second. "Rukia here was just telling me how you invited her to stay for the week considering her parents are out of town.

"Yes as much as I want to prove that I can take care of myself, they are rather afraid of leaving me to watch the house for a week by myself," Rukia said as she turned to smirk at Ichigo, said teen still trying to form a logical sentence in his mind.

"Ah yes, how unfortunate indeed," Ichigo said after some time, a smile on his face, while inwardly he was contemplating bashing the arrogant midget's skull in repeatedly with a tire iron, or maybe a crowbar. Yes the crowbar would work splendidly.

"Can you guys set the table please, the food will be ready soon," Tatsuki spoke up, breaking into Ichigo's fantasy.

"Ah of course Arisawa-san," Rukia said with a polite nod of her head, before rummaging through the cupboards in her search for the required dishes. Striding over to her, Ichigo opened up one of the overhanging cupboards and pulled out a stack of plates, thrusting them into her hand and earning a yelp of surprise from her. Grabbing a few glasses, he followed her into the dining room, watching as she set a plate at each of their seats, before blocking her path and towering over her.

"You have a lot of nerve showing your face here again Rukia," he hissed under his breath, while Rukia glared back at him defiantly.

"You're already using the resources I was supposed to receive towards my lodgings for yourself Ichigo. The least you could do is provide me with an alternate means of room and board. Besides you still need me to keep collecting on those bounties don't you, so getting rid of me will be just as hard."

"And what if I just kill you to rid myself of this problem?" he muttered, seeing a smirk appear on her face again.

"Well then I guess that the police will be informed that the last place I was seen alive was your home, especially since I've told several students and teachers that I will be staying at your home for at least a week while my 'family's' home undergoes several renovations. Even if you cover it up Ichigo, they will be looking at you and I wonder what they'll find."

"You manipulative little bitch," he said with a demented grin on his face. "I'm actually surprised that you've given it this much thought, my congratulations on a job well done. Just a word of warning though, I learnt long ago that some people will snap if pushed hard enough and when they do…things tend to get messy for everyone involved. Let's not push too hard now shall we?"

"I suppose we have a deal then. By the way, I expect you to go after that soul tonight and remove it from that bird."

"Now see that Rukia is an example of pushing me too far," he muttered lowly, his expression turning blank as he stared down at her. "The stupid bird will still be alive tomorrow morning and you said that it was no threat to Chad. Therefore we're going to wait until I can think of a way to remove it from Chad without fucking myself over."

XXX

Unfortunately for Ichigo, the next day came and went and he was nowhere nearer to exorcising the spirit from the bird, partially due to his numerous extracurricular activities and partially due to the fact that Chad didn't even pitch for school…again. Of course explaining this to the thorn in his side was easier said than done.

"For the last time Rukia, NO I can't ditch practice!" he hissed through gritted teeth, slamming his fist into the wall above the soul reaper, returning her glare with one of his own. "You said it yourself; it's not a threat so fuck off with your bitching and moaning about me leaving it. If it's bothering you so bad, go steal the fucking canary and bring it here for me to deal with."

"It's a parakeet Ichigo and we had a deal. You take over my role and I pay you in return for the service!" she hissed right back at him, while his arm shook in anger.

"I honestly don't give a fuck what it's called. Chad's a big guy, he can take care of himself for just a few more hours," Ichigo spat, before turning on his heel and leaving her fuming on the spot.

"You can't keep brushing it off like this Ichigo!" she shouted after his retreating form, "One day you'll turn a blind eye to something like this and it'll come back to bite you in the ass!"

Stomping off to find Chad and the bird on her own, both were unaware of the figure hidden away in the shadows, their form pushing off the wall to stare after the two of them.

XXX

'_Stupid fucking midget and her fucking…RUGH!' _Ichigo thought as he silently fumed, a scowl on his face dissuading anyone from talking to him. _'Who does she think she is asking me to throw this image away?! I've worked too damn hard to create it, to simply throw it away on a whim.'_

Rounding a corner he was abruptly knocked aside as someone rushed past him, sending him crashing into several dustbins and bathing him in their putrid contents.

"YOU SON OF A BITCH! WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOU I'M GONNA…" he shouted at the top of his lungs as he fought his way free of the dustbins, a tin lid on his head. Glaring after his assailant, he was surprised to see Chad sprinting at full tilt without looking back, the bird cage in his hands.

"Chad? What's…" he tried to get out, only to yelp as someone used the tin on his head as a stepping stone, leaping clear of the mess and sending him face first into the ground. Slowly rising to his knees, a bestial growl ripped its way free of his throat, as he watched Rukia chase after Chad.

"You bloody midget…" he spat, feeling a rush of wind pass over him, covering him in the rubbish that lay scattered around him. Brushing it out of his eyes, he watches as a large greenish-grey hollow with overly muscular arms and a white, tiki-like mask flew after the fleeing pair.

"Oh sure, let's just make it a fucking party why don't we?" he muttered under his breath as he finally made it to his feet, scraping what filth he could from his skin. "Well…at least I get to repay at least one of them for this insult," he said as a demented smirk appeared on his face and he sprinted after them.

XXX

Feeling her lungs burn from the effort it was taking to keep up with Chad and slow the hollow Shrieker down, Rukia gasped as she slowed to a halt, her hand clutching her chest as she panted. Even if the hollow himself wasn't enough trouble, the minions he summoned that covered everything they aimed at in leeches was simply the proverbial icing on the cake.

"_**What's the matter soul reaper, tired already?" **_Shrieker taunted her as he landed in front of her, blocking her path. _**"I'm so thrilled that you've led me on such a hunt even though you haven't used your true form, but now the fun and games are at an end."**_

Gritting her teeth in frustration, Rukia leapt back just as his fist collided with the ground where she had been just a moment ago. _"Hado no. 33, Sokatsui!" _she chanted, causing a blue fireball to fire from her outstretched hand and collide with the hollow, exploding on contact. Falling to her knees from expending so much energy in her drained state, she looked up through bleary eyes, cursing as the hollow emerged from the smoke unharmed.

"_**What's wrong soul reaper, even the weaklings before you put up a bigger fight than this,"**_ Shrieker taunted her, drool pouring from his mouth as he approached her. _**"I was hoping that you had one last trick up your sleeve, but it seems you don't. Don't worry; you won't get a chance to curse your existence for much longer."**_

As he bent over to consume her though, both the hollow and soul reaper were surprised by the fist that impacted with the hollow's face, sending it flying several feet away. Looking back at the direction the fist had come from, Rukia was surprised to see Chad standing there, fist outstretched and panting slightly.

"Got him…" he muttered, pulling his fist back.

"_**You worm!" **_Shrieker screeched, rubbing the part on his mask where Chad had cracked it. _**"I'll make sure that I devour you while you're still alive!"**_ it shouted in a rage, only to earn another fist to its face.

'_Can he really stand against this hollow?'_ Rukia thought as she and the hollow were astounded by this mere human's fighting capabilities. As they watched him punch the air at random though, she quickly felt her enthusiasm vanish as it was evident that he could only hear the hollow.

"_**It seems that your friend is all out of luck soul reaper!"**_ he screamed in exhilaration, summoning his minions to cover them in his exploding leeches.

"No! Chad get out of the way!" Rukia screamed at him, leaping in the path of the majority of the pale purple globs as they stuck themselves to both of them. Smirking evilly, Shrieker stuck his tongue out, the sound emanating from it causing them to explode and sending both soul reaper and human to the ground, covered in burns.

"_**Hahaha! See! Nothing can stop me once I've set my sights on you!"**_ Shrieker screeched as he reared his head back and howled.

From her position on the ground, Rukia watched as Chad stubbornly rose to his feet, fists raised as a sign of defiance.

"_**Well that's really cute, but be a good boy and put those fists down boy. Otherwise who knows what might happen to the little guy here,"**_ the hollow taunted him, just as his minions arrived with the bird cage held in their paws, setting it down behind the sadistic hollow. _**"If you just let me eat you now though, I might just let the kid live a little longer."**_ Watching as Chad dropped his fists in defeat; Shrieker chuckled and started to make his way towards the giant teen with deliberate slowness.

"Oi bastard," a cold voice cut through the silent atmosphere. Recognising the voice from when she was spoken to in that same tone, Rukia and Chad watched as the minions that had been holding the cage before were smashed into the hollow's mask, followed shortly after by the heel of his assailant.

"I just can't leave you guys alone to handle yourselves can I?" Ichigo groused as he set the cage down with them and kept his eyes fixed to the hollow, his expression less than pleased.

"You idiot, what took you so long to dig yourself out of the trash," Rukia groaned as she reached into her pocket to retrieve her soul removal glove.

"Considering you two put me in there, I think I earned the right to take my time," he muttered in reply as he pulled her to her feet with a single strong tug. Almost instantly he was freed from his body, his soul bursting free with ease. "Ah now I finally get to work some of this stress out," he said, rolling his shoulders, just as Shrieker got back to his feet, glaring at him with his bright yellow eyes.

"_**Another soul reaper eh? Another delicious meal for me then! This is the best hunt ever!" **_he roared, charging at Ichigo with his fist drawn back.

"Tch, impatient bastard," Ichigo growled, drawing his zanpakuto from his back and cleaving Shrierker's arm from fist to elbow in two and showering himself and the area in the hollow's black blood. "Do you have any idea how much of a headache that bird's given me since I've seen it?!" he shouted at the hollow, his voice barely carrying over its screams of pain. "I know exactly why Chad's caring for the stupid thing and why Rukia's so concerned with it. What I don't know is why you're after it?!"

"_**You really want to know what I want with him." **_Shrieker spat through gritted teeth. _**"Well here's the truth…it's all a game soul reaper. The spirit in that bird…I put it in there after the brat killed me while I was still alive. I, who decided who lived and who died, who relished in my superiority over the bitches I killed; to be killed by one of their whelps was inexcusable! So I told the boy I'd bring his mom back to life. All he had to do was run away from me for three months!"**_

Smirking at Ichigo's expressionless face, he continued to gloat much to Chad and Rukia's disgust.

"_**The best part about it; is that the brat believed it. He's led so many souls, both human and soul reaper to their death and still believes that having mommy back will make it all better! I can't wait for the day when I consume him and feel the despair, the betrayal…the loathing! It'll be glorious!"**_ it giggled in glee, drawing a grunt from Chad and murderous glare from Rukia.

As she was about to retort and cut the hollow off, Rukia was silenced by the overwhelming feeling of rage she was feeling from Ichigo.

"You like killing kids and their mothers huh…" he whispered, his voice carrying through to all of them and causing any icy shiver to run down their spines. "You're proud that you picked on those weaker than you, that you probably ruined countless lives in the process beyond those you killed."

"_**Eh…you're thinking a bit too hard about this, aren't you soul reaper?"**_

"No…I don't think I am," he replied, his movements barely registering before his fist smashed into the hollows mask, breaking through its teeth and leaving a fist-sized hole where its mouth would've been. With a wet squelch, Ichigo tore the hollow's tongue from its mouth, causing it to let out a guttural shriek as its mouth was filled with its own black blood.

"This tongue has enraged me enough for one day," he muttered clenching the dark pink muscle in his hand. "I've killed my share of people, but vermin like you…YOU DISGUST ME!" he roared, leaping forward to thrust his blade clean between the hollows eyes. Ripping it down, he easily bisected the creature and landed slashed his blade to the side with a flourish.

Unlike the other times though, Ichigo was surprised to see the hollow not disappearing into countless particles as its soul was cleansed. As a sinking feeling settled into his stomach, he watched as a demonic pair of dark red doors with black flame decals and golden chains sealing it flashed into existence, a half-skeleton protruding from each one.

As the two humans and a soul reaper watched, the skeletons reached out with a single arm each and began to pull at the door, unleashing a violent wind that tore through the area with abandon and bathing the area in an eerie red light.

As the feeling in his gut morphed into one of dread, Ichigo began to shake and feel queasy at the sight before him. Taking an unconscious step back, he felt sweat begin to bead his forehead as an enormous blade began to exit the slim opening that was created.

"Any sins a soul commits as a hollow are cleansed by a soul reaper's zanpakuto," Rukia began to explain, drawing his attention away from the gate for a moment. "This is done to give them the chance at peace that they deserve. However, those that have committed great sins in their mortal lives will be denied access to Soul Society and are instead condemned to Hell, where they will spend an eternity paying for their sins.

Hearing an anguished cry, Ichigo spun back to face the gates, his eyes widening as the blade completely destroyed what remained of Shrieker's body, before drawing its remaining essence back into it. As the Gates snapped shut with a deafening boom, Ichigo let out an explosive breath and stood panting, clutching at his chest as he felt his heart beating frantically.

Seeing his distressed state, Rukia turned her back on him and made her way towards Chad, intent on healing him and erasing his memory of this event. She paused though as she heard Ichigo call out to her.

"You said those that have sinned in their human lives…what of soul reapers Rukia, where do they go when they die?" he asked softly, his demeanour uncaring, but his tone revealing his worry.

"The worst punishment I have learnt of for a soul reaper is for them to be executed by the Sokyoku, a weapon powerful enough to erase a soul completely from existence. Its use has been reserved for soul reapers of a certain rank though," she explained with a shrug. Watching him nod his head slightly in response, she scowled as he walked over to his lifeless body and returned to it, before slowly waking away.

"Make no mistake though Ichigo…you are still a human soul…despite the fact that you possess the powers of a soul reaper." Seeing him pause in his step, she could see him give the slightest nod, before he continued on his way, his hands in his pockets and his head bowed.

XXX

Another chapter done and a particularly fitting end if I do say so myself. Make no mistake about it; Ichigo is about as evil and heartless as I make him, so of course he kind of seems like the ideal candidate for a one-way ticket to Hell. Anyway I'm back again and having fun for the most part. I don't intend to follow a strict schedule, but I will try and surprise you guys quite often.

Till next time.


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